Cost-Saving Strategies for Managing Agricultural Heating Oil

The needs of  your agricultural operations are also connected to the needs of heating oil. However, this becomes difficult to purchase when the price of oil increases in the market.

For having a regular level of work efficiency of your agricultural heating oil and its system you should focus on cost-effective strategies.

You need to pay attention to the key performance indicators and invest more in precise agricultural technology.

With this, by arranging different upgrades of the system you can significantly reduce the consumption of energy and energy bills.

You can go through this blog post to get an idea about what can be the cost-saving methods that will reduce your agricultural heating oil consumption.

First, let’s have a look at what are the fuels that can be used for agricultural procedures in the UK.  

Fuels That Are Used In Agriculture In The UK

 As per the report of July 2024 by IEA, 26.5%of the energy mix of the UK is added with fossil fuels where coal is 1.1 %, gas is 24.6%  and  in the year 2022 the UK had generated 41.5% of the electricity from renewable sources.

Various kinds of farm fuels like red diesel, natural gas, gasoline, HVO, etc are used in the agricultural process of the UK. They are used for empowering different farming equipment and machines. 

Red diesel: In the agricultural process of the UK the red diesel is used for the machines that work for cutting the hedges and verges. This is also used for clearing the snow from the roads as a category of farm fuel.

Boi-diesel: Biodiesel is also a kind of agriculture fuel that works for the farmers of the  UK. The biodiesel like the B100 works to reduce the co2 emissions by 75% from farming procedures.

Gasoline: Generally gasoline is used for smaller kinds of machines of farming. They can be trimmers, lawnmowers, portable generators, and chainsaws.

Natural gas: In the process of farming natural gas is needed for preparing nitrogen. This is a main component of fertiliser which is used for increasing the yields of crops. This fuel works to produce nearly 70% to 80% of energy for fertilisers.

HVO: Hydrotreated vegetable oil  or HVO  is a kind of renewable energy used for agriculture. This is used in vehicles like tractors and other kinds of commercial boilers and  portable generators.

Methane: Various ruminant animals like goats, sheep, and other cattle have the microorganism which is known as methano-gens. The gas methane is produced by the chemical process of the feed and is used as farm oil.

Insights Of  Energy Usage And Associated Cost  For Agriculture

The current mode of agriculture works on its energy usage in its different stages. People use various kinds of energy sources in the machines of the farms, management of water, harvesting, irrigation, and cultivation.  The energy is also used for processing and storage of food and sending it to the market.

If you want to know how much farm oil you need for harvesting purposes, identify some of the key  factors.

• How much energy is needed for total agricultural work?

You need to first cheque how much of the energy sources you will need for the inputs and outputs of the farming work process.

• What is the maximum level of demand weekly/monthly?

The maximum level of demand for agriculture fuel on a monthly/weekly basis will focus on the use of chemical pesticides, herbicides, mineral fertilisers, etc.  

• When you are in the high demand of energy?

In the seasons of harvesting and planting you can have a high demand for energy and farm oil.  

• Needs as per the patterns of the season?

The seasonal changes like Autumn, Spring and Summer increase the demand for energy for the farming process.

• What crop will you grow?

The crop you want to grow also decides the demand of energy. For example, energy crops  like white sweet clover, millet, grain crops, oil crops, and corn need biofuel.

• What size of the farm?

In the use of farm oil, the size of the farm also matters. It has the category of margin  which is decided to be on average  1.00 hectares. It is also calculated as  small(should be nearly 1.00 to 2.00 hectares), and medium size (should be 4.00 to 10.00 hectares) that decides how much energy will be consumed.  

• What is the proportion of fuel consumption for different agricultural works?

As per the standard rules, the consumption of farm fuel for the tractors for average farming should be 28 to 30 litres/per hectare. For the combined kind of farmers, it should be 32 litres/per hectare.

Ways Field Crop Farms Can Save Energy

If you want to reduce the use of energy for agricultural purposes you need to work on testing the soil, use banding pesticides and fertilisers, and plan for nutrient management.

Harvesting Efficiency needs: You need to cheque what all are the needs of your harvesting. The efficiency in harvesting is meant by having high-level of productive results from your harvested crops in a shorter time frame.

Use of GPS guidance: You can use GPS trackers on the tractors that are used in farming. This will work on having optimal management of the routes,  perfect application of various outputs, and reducing the level of pesticides, fertilisers, and other farm oil.

Minimise Turning Time: To reduce the turning time you need to remove the small kinds of barriers within the fields and make them large and long.

Don’t Over-Till: In an ideal condition, the secondary tillage should go inside half  of the portion that is covered by the first tillage. Thus, there will be less compression and the soil will be in perfect condition.

Machinery and Engine Maintenance: You need to do regular maintenance of the engine and machinery you are using in farming. You need to clean and repair it regularly as per the need of agriculture fuel and even can replace some of its equipment.

Technology for Precision Agriculture: Modern farming operations are done by the use of various new technologies. Farmers can use the auto-steering equipment for planting the field. They can also use technology to collect data on farming activities and the use of farm oil.

Managing Tractor Size: As per the rules the maximum level of dimension of an accurate kind of tractor should be of a minimum of  2.55 metres to a maximum of 3 metres.

AI-driven yield mapping: In the current days you can cheque the yield by the use of AI and automation. In this, you will get the exclusive  data of the farming process by the use of drones inside the tractors. This will also tell you the level of moisture of the field and its other properties and the level of agricultural fuel used.

Use of crop sensors: In the UK you will find that farmers work on using different optical crop sensors. They use this to verify the condition of the crops in their growing time or season.

Work on farm management software: If the farmer uses the farm management software this can also reduce their energy and farm fuel consumption. With this software, they verify  the yields of crops, changes in the weather, with  other investments and earnings. They can also find which are the areas they need to improve.

Use of robotic livestock feeders: The different kinds of robotic feeders for livestock are used in nearly thousands of  dairy farms all over the world. This provides a better level of feeding and the farmers get a chance to finish other tasks.

Business vehicle insurance: Farmers also work for insurance for the vehicles they use in business and commerce. They can do the insurance of the vehicles that carry 3.5 tonnes of farm product. They can also do insurance to  protect  from theft and other accidents.

Consistent Wheel Traffic Pattern and reduce wear and tear: You can implement the consistent cheque of the patterns of wheel traffic. This you can do to reduce the consumption of farm oil with tracking and limiting the movement of the machinery. This will also reduce the pressure on the tires and machine wear and tear.

Use Optimal Gear to RPM(Rotations Per Minute), or CVT: The use of tractors in agriculture should work on RPM which will decide the spinning or movement of the tires within one minute. For example if the wheel moves once in one second, it will have 60 RPM in one minute.

Government Of The UK And Its Energy Usage Policies From March 2022

Like in all other industries, the UK is progressing towards energy independence for its agricultural activities too. They are working to increase and enhance the capacity of electricity generation till the year 2030. They also have plans to make the energy sector ozone-free by the year 2035. 

The British Energy Security Strategy: This is the strategy of the UK government that makes a plan of action to deliver clean energy as farm oil to agribusiness. 

The Energy Profits Levy and associated Investment Allowance: This is the percentage of energy usage of the oil and gas industry and other sectors like farming. This allowance has been prepared for 29% for various kinds of investments towards sustainability. If a farming activity is progressing towards the carbon neutral activities this allowance can be 80% for them.  

More usage of low-carbon in agricultural heat: Farmers can work on using heat  and agriculture fuel that will have low levels of carbon as per the rules. They should also work on the use of renewable energy, cover cropping, effective management of livestock, and crop rotation methods of farming.

Use of a community-based system: The farmers should work on CSA or community-supported agriculture. This enhances the relationship between the consumer and manufacturer towards environment-friendly farming initiatives and the use of agricultural fuel.

Empowerment for the rules of renewable energy usage: UK farmers need to follow the Climate Act 20o8 and for this, they have to work on decreasing the release of CO2 emissions by 80% till the year 2050.

Wrapping Up

The use of farm oil for your agricultural procedures is a necessity. For the best usage, firstly you have to focus on the market demand for fuel, your location, the type of crop you are growing, the livestock you have, and the weather changes.

You can have a bulk purchase in the off-season but for this, you need to have a safe and proper arrangement of storage.

Take initiative so that you can work on adding various energy management software into this to take care of the sustainability concerns.

 It is very important that as per the SDG 13, the UK is having some of the specific goals to  reduce the risks of various disasters  in businesses  and agricultural activities  due to climate change.